being a trekkie means getting to wake up and say "guess what today is" to your non-trekkie partner and then smile insufferably while they go ???? and then say "threshold day!" to which they can only sigh
i have a 3 hour long presentation session at work tomorrow and i am once again going to channel garak and his customer service smile. yes i'm so happy to be here delivering this training session even though it's not my job and this whole project has been a shitshow! watch how enthusiastic i can be!! look how my eyes are so wide and it's because i'm so happy to be here not because i can't believe what i'm being forced to endure and am picturing violence to get through it!!
this got so long i've had to stick most of it under a cut
the first shot we get of morse's face is so beautiful. he looks SO young. a baby.
also the subtitles are (painfully slow typing) which is so funny. his typing is painfully slow.
socks hanging on the window to dry. idk why that's so funny to me.
him not hearing mcleash over his opera even though he's talking pretty loud
also love his excuse for getting out of going to the pub with mcleash. he points at what he's typing like it's work, which is what mcleash assumes, but it's literally his resignation letter lmao
then morse once again ignoring/not hearing mcleash on the bus and just staring out the window. daydreaming. music playing in his head
he's got the beige coat instead of the green one but it's still equally thin and cheap and i hate it
lott talking to morse and mcleash like they're children
almost the first thing morse says to him is a haughty little "wouldn't you think?" comment. i love him. he's such a little bitch sometimes
then he's in his lodgings. he looks so sad and pathetic. like a wet cat
ahhhh the first interaction with thursday!!! "there is one thing, sir" and thursday turns around. and listens. and it's SO important to morse. the first person to listen to him. yeah he then dismisses the idea a second later but still. he listened.
and then immediately the next scene is morse following that line of inquiry anyway lol
when he's talking to the woman he listens. "what makes you say that?" and a thoughtful little expression on his face. i adore him. the way he reacts to thursday listening to him as though he's the first person to ever give him a chance, vs the way he's always so careful listening to others. you become the person who would've saved you the time no one did. or smth
he's so grumpy when he gets into the office and immediately gets sent out again. so grumpy. it's easy to forget how grumpy he can get because he's also so vulnerable, but really, he's very bad-tempered sometimes.
i always forget how bad he is with the blood phobia this early on. he really really can't look. keeps such a long distance away too.
eww alex from university. "didn't take?" stfu leave him alone
how much morse struggles with his social skills. alex giving him a friendly tap while he says "word of advice..." and morse looking down at his collar where he touched him in confusion
ahhh his opera idol! he tries to walk away but then he can't stop himself from grinning and it's so cute and he just has to turn around, he can't help himself
he's so shy! right up until the moment he can get back on script. his planned script for the conversation
"what can i do for you mr morse" "actually it's detective constable morse"
the first time he takes work home with him!!! literally!!! he brought evidence home!!
he's using a folded up quilt as a desk
his hands are so pretty and slender.
repeated pen clicking while he rocks himself back and forth a couple times!! stim!!
dorothea frazil and the "have we met" "i don't think so" "another life then" moment. ohhh i love it so much. it's so important.
ahhhh he's in the jag for the first time!!! his smile is so cute!!! blasting his opera!!
"friday, must be corned beef" yessss
"when it comes to reliability the fixed motion of the heavens has nothing on my win" awww <3 and also morse smiling about it
when thursday realises morse has been on the case and he just accepts it and listens. again.
oh and!! when they get in. thursday's "wait a minute" to the others, to get them to listen too. "the lad's been having a bit of a dig around the tremlett case. tell them"
how they stare at him and he starts to lose confidence. "...possibly." then they start to echo what he's saying and he looks so hopeful... and then so crushed and upset when they shoot his idea down entirely.
lmao and then the smug look when it turns out to be right.
"who's a clever boy then." lott :/
okay but when the victim's family member starts sobbing and collapses to the floor. morse's reaction is so important to me. he kneels first to rub her back. but then she wails, and he just leans forward and he's not even fully hugging her, he's sort of bracing her with his own body, like he's trying to give her something to push against. i just think it says a lot about what he would want in that situation. he wants someone to be solid while he's breaking down.
this is getting so long i keep hitting the character limit per text block and coming back to split it up
the autopsy!! oh he's trying so hard. he's trying so hard to be brave. looks away with his eyes as much as he can but without turning his head away. then there's a little wobble ( and as someone who passes out for medical reasons fairly often, that is an exceptionally accurate portrayal. there's so often a little wobble first where you don't realise you're going down, you just feel a bit unsteady ) and then there it is. he's gone.
okay but the shot where thursday catches him, you can see the very end of the shot roger going "OH SHIT". he defo dropped him lmao and they just cut the sound
"you'll be alright." sir he's unconscious on the ground
"actually sir i don't drink" "very commendable. now get that down you" noooooooo :(
actually though "if you're going to apologise, don't". that's sweet
red jag!!!! <3
when he's walking with dr stromming he's nearly jogging to keep up with him. they keep putting him near people who are taller than him!! makes him look smaller than he really is
when he stands talking to someone he often has his hands clasped behind his back. which. as someone who also does that. is sometimes a way to stop ur hands from fidgeting.
"you didn't used to be so cruel" this is one of the things i adore about morse. even with people he's friendly with, or trying to be friendly with, he doesn't hesitate to bluntly state when he doesn't like what they said. and then "poor old morse. you were never oxford material. too bloody decent, by half" so mean. why is everyone so mean to him.
when he's shaving it sort of looks like he's wearing a t-shirt ( unusual ) and it looks a little bit like it's on inside out, with the seams on the outside. it's probably just the way it's designed, but. still
thursday walking morse to the chief super's office, "just tell dcs crisp what you told me, alright?" reassuring him. i love morse's combo of arrogance and anxiety
"he's lying. i know he is" oh babe. baby boy.
"he was still in love with her, he couldn't have harmed her" hopelessly, hopelessly romantic. i love him.
nooooo he's gone to the pub upset for the first time. nooooo
"any stupidity was mine"
talking about his mother. he's so heartbreakingly vulnerable when he's talking about her. "someone soft. the scent of her hair. tenderness"
"now get out of my office before i have someone break your legs, you little bastard" and morse looks so upset and scared by that. and he does get out of his office. i love how scared he is, so so so much. a protagonist who's so visibly and frequently frightened is unusual and it's so special.
"and who gave you leave to do that?" "i did" thursday to the rescue!!!! yesss!!!
so he got scared and went to the station and then from this point on, he's got thursday with him. morse stands slightly behind him, which is so cute.
ahhh the bit where thursday sends morse out to the car to look for tobacco!! morse is so gullible sometimes i love it. i love it so much. and then he comes back and he's so surprised to find thursday committed violence. he just can't believe it.
"what about the law?" oh baby. sweetheart. your black and white thinking. i love it.
"did inspector thursday hit teddy samuels" "no sir" such an interesting moment for morse's sense of morality! and then he gets yelled at. and he reacts visibly to it. again, the vulnerability in him. he's so so reactive. he hands over his letter of resignation.
"i read your file, boy" lott calling morse 'boy'. that's the second time.
ohhh then with rosalind calloway. "you saved my life". he's referencing i think the time when he was a suicidal teen living with his father and stepmother. knowing about that from i.m. gives so much context to that scene.
"are you flirting with me?" "a little. perhaps." so soft. so shy but also so honest. SO vulnerable. that's what strikes me about so much of this episode. he's so vulnerable in so many ways and i love that about him, but he still has this edge to him that you wouldn't expect from someone with such vulnerability.
"perhaps better to have loved and lost." "so i'm told" ohhh he hurts so much. he's hurting so much.
ok ok then it cuts to the next morning, and he's on his bed, fully clothed still, dead asleep. and the note pinned to his chest is from thursday. so there's a whole ass missing scene there where thursday finds him, presumably drunk, and gets him home. so. does he go to thursday, upset and drinking? does thursday come across him?
also love how morse handed in his resignation and was absolutely set on it, and then one (1) note from thursday and he goes running straight back. all it takes is one person's belief in him.
"dear, dear? a young girl strangled [etc.] and all you can say is dear, dear?" he's so cross!!! god i love him. he's so blunt and genuine. absolutely no ability to hide his emotion. love how thursday has to rein him in.
oh he's so upset now he's worked out the truth. poor boy.
thursday wanting to go on and interrupt the performance, and morse stopping him. beautiful.
oh him crying in his room listening to her record. and crying outside her cell. and crying again realising she's dead. poor poor baby. so young and so vulnerable and so deeply heartbroken.
thursday picking him up to take him to the station. so sweet.
"mind if i drive?" ahhh he loves driving. he loves it. so cute.
morse staring at himself in the car mirror. totally zoned out. he zones out so often
"endeavour!" the way he looks so cross about that.
there are no words to express how much I adore the hospital scene in canticle. it’s just,,, perfect. so pretty. the concern. the relief. drowsy morse. corned beef. love it.
scales. because he curled up but left his outside leg stretched out which revealed those tiniest softest little scales that are usually hidden in his joint.
(his tail is wrapped all the way around himself. so in the top left of the photo is the base of his tail and then his back leg is underneath that, his side is at the right of the photo and then the very end of his tail is underneath that)
today I put my scrap fabric box on its side so my lizard could climb in if he wanted to, because he likes to climb inside things and i'm a nice lizard parent like that.
instead of climbing in, he repaid me by stealing all the scraps out of the box and spreading them across the floor.
